Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Another Lesson Learned the Hard Way......

The last few days have been so hectic. We've had another round of house guests,Chad ran in a 5K on Saturday followed by a very quick day trip to Chattanooga, church activities, an early morning appointment on Monday.... It seems like I haven't looked at my blog until today. God has really shown off for us the last week. I'll share one specific, but the others I just want to ponder in my heart a little longer. As sweet as they are, they are for our family and I don't feel like I have liberty to share them...yet. :)

First of all let me just tell you about my man. So you know he's training for a 1/2 marathon that will take place in January. As part of that he ran in a 5k last Saturday morning. He did great and beat his personal time. I am so proud of him. He even crossed the finish line smiling, but that is just Chad. When I think back 11 or 12 years, I can't believe he is doing this. I pulled out some pictures today and thanked God for sparing his life. If you were to see them, you wouldn't believe it's the same person. God is still in the miracle business. Chad is a living testimony of that.








Now, let me just tell you what God did for us. I had an appointment very early on Monday morning. So early that I trembled just thinking about trying to find childcare. (Chad was to be with me at this.) Some dear friends, who moved to the area from Chattanooga, offered to have the girls spend Sunday night and Monday morning with them. It was all arranged and we were set.

Sunday afternoon, we received a phone call that our friends mother was on the way to the E.R. in Alabama and they were leaving to head that way. Our man-made plans fell through. I was literally minutes from leaving for children's choir and we just didn't have any other options! I began to panic and felt a migraine coming on.... again. (That would have been 2 in 4 days.)

I shot an e-mail out to our Sunday school class asking if anyone knew of a homeschool student or college age student that might be available. It was such short notice, I expected NO responses. I took some ibuprofen and headed to church.

Once I got home, several of our classmates had responded saying that any other time they would but couldn't on Monday, but were praying. I was so blessed to get those responses, but still doubted that anyone would have a sitter that could be available at that time of morning on such short notice.

About an hour after we got home, the phone rings. It's our Sunday School teacher's wife. Her words to me were, "Bring them over here, I'll be glad to keep them." It was as if this huge burden had been lifted. We worked out details and hung up. I breathed a sigh of relief and told Chad everything was worked out.

Later, God convicted my heart. You see, when the phone call came that changed our plans, I prayed quickly for our friends mother, but I didn't pray about the childcare issue. I never asked God to provide a sitter. Why do I do this!! I know that He is in control and cares about the smallest detail of my life, so why in the world did I not talk to Him about this?!!!

It would have been different if He hadn't been showing me in numerous other ways all last week that He is truly the giver of ALL things. I'm so grateful that He chose to show Himself to us by providing this need when I didn't even have the decency to ask Him!

So today, as I looked at those photos God spoke to my heart. As much as HE was with us during the "sick" years, He is with us know. HE cares about all of the things we deem as little because they are important to us. He wants to be involved, He really does! I'm still amazed. What an awesome God we have. He truly cares about each little detail.

3 comments:

Fran said...

Hi Stephanie....
I remembered in Bible study a few weeks ago that our teacher shared with us that our God is a "with God." He is always with us in every detail through every thing. How I love to remember that He is a "with God."

May He be with you today through it all. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Blessings~
Fran

DeAnna said...

I'm glad that everything worked out. I really wanted to call and offer to help, but I couldn't see how it would work. You were in my thoughts all morning long on Monday. I hope everything turned out fine at your appointment.

The Stokes Family said...

I'm so glad everything worked out, Stephanie! Valerie is the BEST, she has helped me out with my little ones more times than I can count. I am usually home during the week if you need a sitter in the future--Kip and I had our own meeting at 8 AM that particular morning. Anyhow, isn't it INCREDIBLE how our God is so into the little details! Carol and I have talked about that so many times!

Blessings,
Amanda